Three senior House Democrats have asked for an investigation into allegations that Motorola's contracting tactics have led state and local governments - including perhaps Dallas - to squander millions of dollars on the company's pricey two-way emergency

The Dallas Morning News and ProPublica analyzed recently released government data to look for patterns among health care providers who bill Medicare, the government's health insurance program for the elderly and disabled.

The U.S. congressman who represents West has asked Texas' state health department for a "more comprehensive investigation" of the health effects of last year's fertilizer plant explosion that killed 15 people.

An explosion rocked the small Central Texas farming town of West on April 17. A fire at West Fertilizer Co. ignited stores of ammonium nitrate that detonated with the force of a small earthquake. Fifteen people died. Hundreds more were injured. A nursing home, apartment complex, schools and scores of private homes near the plant were destroyed. Investigators can’t say with certainty what caused the fire. But some things are clear: regulations on the safe storage of ammonium nitrate fertilizer are inadequate and emergency preparedness is lax.

It took regulators more than four years to rein in Dr. Tariq Mahmood. Before they acted, he allegedly submitted more than $1 million in fraudulent billings to the government, and substandard care at his chain of small-town Texas hospitals led to multiple patient deaths.

Parkland Memorial Hospital is the nation's largest healthcare facility ever forced into federal oversight to remedy patient-safety dangers. How did the landmark Dallas County public hospital reach this precipice? The problems have been years in the making.

In recent years, Dr. Kern Wildenthal has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in UTSW funds with little or no documentation of the work he did or how it benefited the medical center. Such expenses did reflect Wildenthal’s fondness for international travel, fine wine and the opera.

The young man fights back during a robbery. Kill him. The neighbor accuses you of stealing gas from his truck. Kill him. The son you never wanted is yelling at your wife again. Kill him. Your punishment in Texas, the nation's death-penalty capital? In each case, it was probation. In many states, probation is a rare or impossible sentence for murder. But a Dallas Morning News investigation found that it happened in Texas at least 120 times from 2000 through 2006.

A Dallas Morning News review of tax records for 22 local sports-driven nonprofits found shortcomings among some of the charities. Some spent more on overhead than on charity. Others collected contributions but sat dormant. Still others squirreled funds away for years.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry likes to say that Texas is "open for business." Gov. Perry himself has done quite a bit of business with his political allies, to their mutual benefit. A Dallas Morning News investigation found that he made $500,000 in land deals with one powerful family. Meanwhile, his secretive Emerging Technology Fund devoted millions of dollars to his campaign donors, sometimes in violation of the fund’s own rules.

A Dallas Morning News investigation found Texas' top charter schools demand great things from faculty and students alike. Schools at the bottom show pathetic results, and some suffered from nepotism, insider dealing, and misuse of funds.

In the midst of the longest U.S. combat operations since the Vietnam War, military families are struggling through a relentless cycle of crisis and stress. Many suffer their own wounds of war: Depression. Anxiety. Divorce. Suicide. Staff writer David Tarrant and photojournalist Sonya N. Hebert have spent four months meeting dozens of military families and chronicling their journey through these perilous times.